In Search of the Dark Ages by Michael Wood

This edition of Michael Wood's groundbreaking first book explores the fascinating and mysterious centuries between the Romans and the Norman Conquest of 1066. In Search of the Dark Ages vividly conjures up some of the most famous names in British history, such as Queen Boadicea, leader of a terrible war of resistance against the Romans, and King Arthur, the 'once and future king', for whose riddle Wood proposes a new and surprising solution. Here too, warts and all, are the Saxon, Viking and Norman kings who laid the political foundations of England - Offa of Mercia, Alfred the Great, Athelstan, and William the Conqueror, whose victory at Hastings in 1066 marked the end of Anglo-Saxon England.

Reflecting recent historical, textual and archaeological research, this revised edition of Michael Wood's classic book overturns preconceptions of the Dark Ages as a shadowy and brutal era, showing them to be a richly exciting and formative period in the history of Britain.

A good, solid introduction for those, like me, who are just beginning to delve into England’s Dark Age, a period roughly a thousand years long. Luckily, Wood’s writing is extremely accessible and clear. I never felt as if he was trying to impress, but, at the same time, never felt that he was speaking down to the reader.

Each chapter gives you plenty of information as it takes the reader through the pivotal events of the age and those who played a large part in them. Yet the reader is never inundated by that information, but given enough to whet your appetite for more. From Boadicea to William the Conqueror, the reader is swept along England’s road to nationhood. Saxons, Vikings, Normans, all have their story told.

The book compliments the documentary, which I’m looking forward to viewing.





Mount TBR 2017 Book Links

Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.

1. The Lost Girls
2. Hillbilly Elegy
3. Our Revolution
4. Requiem for Athens
5. Dark Angels
6. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
7. The Last Kingdom
8. The Lost Child of Philomena Lee: A Mother, Her Son and a 50 Year Search
9. And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East
10. Now Face to Face
11. Our Endless Numbered Days
12.Dean and Me: (A Love Story)
13. This Changes Everything
14. Richard III and the Murder in the Tower
15. The Apocalypse
16. The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration, 1966-1999
17. The Snow Child
18. Stonehenge
19. Royal Blood: King Richard III and the Mystery of the Princes
20. To the Bright Edge of the World
21. How the Dog Became the Dog: From Wolves to Our Best Friends
22. The Hollow Man
23. The Invaders: How Humans and Their Dogs Drove Neanderthals to Extinction
24. Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
25. In Line Behind a Billion People: How Scarcity Will Define China's Ascent in the Next Decade
26. The Glorious Cause
27. The Motion of Puppets
28. Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?
29. Dead Pool: Lake Powell, Global Warming, and the Future of Water in the West
30. The Lodestar
31. The Greatest Knight
32. Rightful Heritage: FDR and the Land of America
33. Pandora's Star
34. Days Without End
35. In Search of the Dark Ages